printing – Koraks tinkers

Ready, set, go – Stuff you need to get started with carbon transfer

This post is in answer to a question from Esmee (check out her work via https://www.eamy.nl/). Since others might somehow benefit from it as well, I might as well just put it up for everyone to see. So here’s a little shopping list of what’s needed to get started with carbon transfer using DAS sensitizer.

Creative possibilities in RA4 printing

Sometimes I read comments on RA4 printing like “it doesn’t allow for much creativity given the required tight process controls”. Well, I don’t agree. Recently, when I read a comment along these lines, it triggered me to list the more creative ways RA4 printing can be done. Here’s that list, with a brief explanation to go with each entry.

Collimated vs. diffuse light – a cyanotype example

On a forum, someone asked how to get their cyanotypes made with 3D objects instead of a negative crisper. The fundamental issue at work here is how collimated or diffuse the light source is. Here’s a quick example of the difference between both.

Creative RA4 – Bleach and redevelop

Straight printing on RA4 paper is great fun and it’s what I do most of the time when I print color in the darkroom. But the RA4 process has several tricks up its sleeve. The other day I decided to revisit one of those tricks I had played with briefly some years ago: bleach and redevelop. Here’s an example of what it does and how it’s a useful took in boosting print contrast without saturation going overboard.

Pixels, not grains – Why RA4 paper is ‘digital’, and why this matters (not?)

Look at the back print of some papers, such as FUJIFILM’s Crystal Archive Supreme HD, and the word ‘digital’ features prominently. Indeed, I’ve been told that current Fuji RA4 color papers are exclusively intended for digital exposure. But does that mean we can’t use them anymore for optical enlargements?

Between the lines – The importance of interlayers in RA4 color paper

‘Today I learned’…a lot, in fact! More than enough to fill a couple of blogs, but let’s start with this one. Did you know that color paper has layers that you can’t see, that are actually designed to be invisible, but that play a huge role in the visual aspects of the paper and the images on it? Well, now you do! They’re the interlayers, and they are quite essential, as it turns out. I’ll try to explain.

Color carbon made feasible, part 1: halftone screens

In my previous blog post, I outlined a couple of tough challenges I met in the color carbon project. These challenges are partly inherent to the carbon transfer process, and partly stem from working with digital negatives, in particular continuous tone negatives. In this blog, I will outline the two main components to a solution to these challenges: halftone screen negatives and sensitizer-incorporated tissue.

Color carbon and digital inkjet negatives: challenges

It’s been awfully quiet on the color carbon front, hasn’t it? Well, that’s partly accurate. I haven’t done as many test strips these past two weeks as I’d been doing before, and the reason is that I’m at a crossroads with this project now. Having learned lots, it’s also becoming clearer now what I’m dealing with. The question is – how to proceed? Let’s start with exploring some of the challenges I’m currently facing, which all happen to revolve around consistency and linearity.

Some images – Tractor tracks

No long story this time, just some images. By far the most photos I make are taken in the immediate vicinity of the house, within walking distance. The same is true for these two, which I took when exposing a test roll of Fomapan 100 to see how the Sigma 24/2.8 I received recently works.

Easy way out – Inkjet on ‘DIY’ papers

No, I haven’t given up on color carbon yet. But as I was messing with the inkjet printer anyway, making hundreds of digital negatives and greyscale tests, at some point I got experimental in that direction as well. You see, the thing with inkjet is that I just don’t like most inkjet papers. They’re very high-tech and offer great gamut and dmax. But they don’t have much subtlety to them and the paper surface is always lifeless to me. The exception is the (rather pricey) inkjet baryta papers that indeed resemble fiber-based B&W papers. But couldn’t we expand our choices a bit, perhaps by trying something ourselves? Well, turns out, we can…read on!